This section is intended to introduce the reader to various aspects of art, which may be related to various aspects of the present invention that are described and/or claimed below. This discussion is believed to be helpful in providing the reader with background information to facilitate a better understanding of the various aspects of the present invention. Accordingly, it should be understood that these statements are to be read in this light, and not as admissions of prior art.
In processor-based systems, such as computer systems, it may be desirable for information to be transferred efficiently from one system to another system. Accordingly, a network may be utilized to allow information, such as files or programs, to be shared across an office, a building, or any geographic boundary. The use of the network may enhance productivity for various systems by allowing server systems having larger processing and storage capabilities to communicate with smaller systems, such as client systems, for example. That is, the server systems may store data for client systems and provide various functionalities, such as enhanced processing power, data storage and other similar functionalities, to the client systems.
Network interface resources may be used to couple computers and other devices to a network. These interface resources are generally referred to as network interface adapters. For example, network interface adapters may include network interface cards (NICs), each adapter or NIC having at least one port through which a physical link is provided between the network transmission medium and the processing resources of the network device. Data may be communicated from the processing resources of one network device to another through the network. The data is transmitted and received through these interface resources and over the media used to physically couple the devices together.
To improve the reliability and throughput of a network, some or all of the network devices may be coupled to the network through redundant network resources. These redundant links to the network may be provided as a plurality of single-port NICs, one or more NICs each having more than one port, or a combination thereof Teaming of network interface resources is particularly common for servers, as the demand for throughput and reliability is typically greatest for servers on a network. Resource teams typically include two or more NICs (more specifically, two or more NIC ports) logically coupled in parallel to appear as a single virtual network adapter to the other devices on the network. These resource teams can provide aggregated throughput of data transmitted to and from the network device employing the team and/or fault tolerance (i.e. resource redundancy to increase reliability).
For a server system, one or more NICs may be utilized to provide improved access points to the network. However, in a network system having multiple NICs, the traffic load across the NICs may not be balanced. That is to say, that the traffic may be heavier through one data path and NIC than another which may degrade system performance. Further, the NICs in the system may be unable to compensate for different network conditions, such as network bandwidth bottlenecks and problems. As a result, the system may not operate efficiently because it is unable to adjust transmission allocations to compensate for network conditions which degrades the system's performance.